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Many countries are officially in recession and a number of brands have succumbed in the UK including Woolworths, Zavvi, The Pier and Land of Leather. At the same time, big names across the pond like Foot Locker, The Home Depot and Disney stores are closing tens if not hundreds of their stores.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. The online fashion retailer ASOS is thriving4 with a 118% sales increase and profits exceeding all expectations. Sales at Sainsbury's have increased5; Debenhams' profits are up6 with 1200 new jobs promised through new stores. Amazon7, Domino's and Greggs8 are also among those bucking the trend.
Times are undeniably tough and businesses are looking for a much-needed edge to survive. Recent research9 shows that lower prices aren't necessarily the answer and may end up doing more harm than good. Customer service, on the other hand, is a great way to distinguish your business from your competitors'. Understandably service levels are improving10 in the UK and possibly worldwide during this period of hardship.
This together with the fact that the web's providing a platform for success - Woolies is coming back as an e-commerce only proposition - means the online user experience is now more important than ever to stand out in a harsh landscape. But can you create a good user experience (UX) without breaking the bank? Let's look at some user experience 'wise buys' to be had in today's cash-strapped economy.
Know your audience and their goals
Who's coming to your site? This may sound simple but it's surprising how many organisations aren't aware of this information. Run an online survey on your site to find out more about who your customers actually are. This can then be broken down into a clearer segmentation to give you a basic view of your audience. Tools like SurveyMonkey11 make this easy and are reasonably priced.
Also find out why people are visiting your site. What are they looking for or hoping to achieve? Only by discovering their needs can you check if the site meets them. And if it doesn't, you're armed with this valuable data to direct your efforts in ensuring customer needs are fulfilled.
Free SEO keywords and analytics
Good usability and good search engine optimisation (SEO) go hand in hand. Tailor your site to what your audience is thinking and that's what they'll type into the search engines! Want to find out what your site visitors are searching for? Try the Google AdWords Keyword23 tool - it shows what's been searched for on a given URL in the previous month.
Another valuable addition to your toolkit is Google Analytics24, which lets you analyse website statistics. This allows a strong tie-in of the UX changes to demonstrable ROI, which in turn can only promote buy-in of the user-centred philosophy throughout your organisation.
In a nutshell
While budgets are restrained in a recession, contrary to what may seem logical, it's time to invest wisely to get your website in order. Not only does this provide your business with an edge and may well ensure survival but it also puts you ahead of the game when the economy turns round and things pick up.
This article was written by Mrudula Kodali a senior consultant at the user experience consultancy25, Webcredible. Mru's passionate about improving the user experience of websites and is responsible for leading a variety of user experience projects including eyetracking26 and information architecture27.
